BOTTOM FEEDERS= a place for everything modified and/or custom made

[Quigsworth]

That is shaping up nice Custom...

On the dna Woodvil...from looking at Turbo's I guess another reason for my proclivity for reg. shunning could very well be by my own volition...there is a 2 part rational why I didn't copy Turbo's surface mounted idea (which in retrospect is no doubt the better option)...1, I didn't have access to a mill at the time (my own impatiences) and 2, I was concerned that juice would run down the side of the mod and seep/kill. I should also clarify that my typical method of doing everything is with a fair dosage of overkill...which doesn't exclude my squonking habits ...so 2 may very well be an issue unique to myself.



I decided to just use the onboard tacts for my up/down, accessed through corresponding holes bored in the bottom mostly because I hate clutter (and I'm also a set it and forget it kinda guy)...and in keeping with that, the fire tact is flush mounted (and readily accessible for swap out if needed)...as you can see the interior won't win a beauty contest but it's clean, dry and functional...oddly enough, of all the effort of juice proofing I've done on this mod, it's one of the few that I've never had a leaking issue with...go figure

So, as you guys can see...I don't completely disregard reg'd mods, I do enjoy this thing, I do like the light, click fire button but to be completely honest, I vape at a 25-30 watts, I swap batts all the time in my mechs, never really getting below 3.8 ish volts, it simply doesn't bother me to do that and I coil accordingly (my palate can't discriminate any difference between 4.2 and about 3.8 volts) ...so, in my particular mindset, I don't see a reg. as a benefit, it really doesn't do much for me vape wise, I see it as a blingy, unnecessary point of failure....but hey, I guess you have to have a couple just cause...

 

[CaptSteve]

18650 fits good.

Trying to decide whether to use a spring, for ease of use, or just use a short brass bolt for the neg. Springs a little tight. I'll snap a pic. brb...


Here it is...

Like I said, a spring would be a little tight, but doable.

I like the idea of a spring so I could use different batts. and to keep tension...

You can countersink some the spring in the bottom aluminum plate custom. Don't go with a bolt because you'll have contact problems without tension buddy

 

[Quigsworth]

I completely agree...I've tried hard contacts (stationary pos./threaded neg. that I torque into the bottom of the batt.) I don't know if it's thermal expansion/contraction of the batt or what but unless you grind that neg. bolt into your batt to the point of damage it will loosen...and if you're running a DNA can you say "re-boot"?, like a lot?

 

[custom-classic]

My reason for wanting regulated boils down to adjustability. I love my mechs, always have two with me wherever I go and will continue to have at least one with me after my dna is complete.

The thing is, with a mech, you're locked in to your build all day, for the most part. I like a mellow vape first thing in the morning and as the day wears on, I like a much hotter vape. So, I build on the hot side, knowing I'll want it like that later in the day.

Problem is, when I grab that sweet, sweet, Gorilla Juice first thing in the a.m., it dang near takes my head off!!!

Now, of course, I get use to it after a while and settle in... Inevitably though, before the day is over and as my batts start to sag ever so slightly, I end up wishing I could crank it up a bit...

It would be nice to have the ability to crank it down first thing in the morning, then as the day goes on, crank it up a little at a time...

 

[Quigsworth]

My reason for wanting regulated boils down to adjustability. I love my mechs, always have two with me wherever I go and will continue to have at least one with me after my dna is complete.

The thing is, with a mech, you're locked in to your build all day, for the most part. I like a mellow vape first thing in the morning and as the day wears on, I like a much hotter vape. So, I build on the hot side, knowing I'll want it like that later in the day.

Problem is, when I grab that sweet, sweet, Gorilla Juice first thing in the a.m., it dang near takes my head off!!!

Now, of course, I get use to it after a while and settle in... Inevitably though, before the day is over and as my batts start to sag ever so slightly, I end up wishing I could crank it up a bit...

It would be nice to have the ability to crank it down first thing in the morning, then as the day goes on, crank it up a little at a time...

...carzy how subjective this vaping thing is eh?...I'm the exact opposite, hard in the AM, back off at night (unless alcohol is involved )...and I will agree, that's where a reg. shines...for me, I just grab a different mod but I totally get it.

 

[custom-classic]

You can countersink some the spring in the bottom aluminum plate custom. Don't go with a bolt because you'll have contact problems without tension buddy

Genius, Capt'n!!! I'll mill out an area in the shelf and sink that bad boy down a little.

 

[CaptSteve]

Yep same here boys

 

[CaptSteve]

Genius, Capt'n!!! I'll mill out an area in the shelf and sink that bad boy down a little.

That'll solve the problem nicely buddy

 

[Rossum]

It would be nice to have the ability to crank it down first thing in the morning, then as the day goes on, crank it up a little at a time...

Or simply having a consistent vape no matter the battery's state-of-charge.

 

[custom-classic]

Or simply having a consistent vape no matter the battery's state-of-charge.

Of course, there's that...

Rossum, I absolutely love your sig line, btw. Fits me to a tee...

 

[Quigsworth]

Or simply having a consistent vape no matter the battery's state-of-charge.

True enough I guess...I envy peeps that have the ability to discriminate the change in vape/taste of there mods between 4.2 and say the high 3's, I guess in my case, decades of smoking analogues pretty much wiped that out....either that, or I'm undiscerning, mouth breather...yep, most likely the case, meh

 

[Ian444]

I would like to see the regulator boards come down in price, I think that's just a matter of time as the market grows and economy of scale can reduce the price. These boards aren't rocket science and as more companies get into it there will be good competition. Fun days ahead...

Regarding juice-proofing the boards, I believe a thin coating of quality conformal coating should suffice. When I do mine (very soon) I'll also do a test piece and soak it in juice for a couple of days to see how the conformal coating stands up to it. This way the board can be replaced with not much extra difficulty.

 

[Quigsworth]

I tried what Turbo suggested and got a bottle of that liquid electrical tape...it works pretty good, juice doesn't seem to effect it...another product out there is that liquid handle that you dip your tool grips into...really good at juice stopping but with a serious thick viscosity...too thick imo.

 

[CaptSteve]

Hey I'm guessing you can dip the chip after you've soldered on the wires in resin, let it set and Bob's your uncle. Can't see why that won't work

 

[Quigsworth]

Hey I'm guessing you can dip the chip after you've soldered on the wires in resin, let it set and Bob's your uncle. Can't see why that won't work

That's what I did for my Woodvil...I just made a little dam out of duct seal (that gray electrical putty) so the up/down on board tacts wouldn't get seized, set the wired DNA in place, made sure everything worked then made another dam at the bottom of the mod then mixed up some 2 part epoxy and sunk it like a bug in amber...epoxy resin doesn't conduct...

that may not be a solution if you've been diagnosed with any physiological commitment issues but hey, what are you gonna to do???

 

[Rossum]

True enough I guess...I envy peeps that have the ability to discriminate the change in vape/taste of there mods between 4.2 and say the high 3's

4.2 -> 3.7V is darn near a 30% change in the amount of power applied to your coil. That's very noticeable to me and I smoked for 36 years.

 

[turbocad6]

I can Vape mine down to ~3.2v without a serious drop in Vape. On mechs I'm swapping ~3.7-3.8 v cause that's when I feel it dropping off a bit. By the time its down to 3.6 v its a dead Vape to me. Even considering the loss in efficiency I still see at least 25% more usable runtime with regulated over Mech.

 

[Quigsworth]

4.2 -> 3.7V is darn near a 30% change in the amount of power applied to your coil. That's very noticeable to me and I smoked for 36 years.

That would actually make sense if the discharge was linear, however, it's not...a typical batt. drops from 4.2 off charger to 4 pretty quick (not my fav. zone, like I said, I coil accordingly)...and lingers between 4 and 3.8 (my usual swap V), then drops off real quick at about 3.7 - 3.6...

So I guess if you want to express that in a percentage, it's more like a 5% drop within my sweet spot...interestingly enough, even though I'm trying to capture the essence of my taste buds in a mathematical expression...still doesn't change anything...

 

[BobC]

Hey I'm guessing you can dip the chip after you've soldered on the wires in resin, let it set and Bob's your uncle. Can't see why that won't work

I'm not your uncle, but in my opinion, specially with the newer chips, the only problem rests with the display, not the board

 

[Ian444]

Found this interesting aluminum enclosure on ebay, it might be able to be used for a lightweight mech bottom feeder. Because I have limited tools, I'm always on the lookout for possible enclosures. This one looks like it is just the right size for an 18650 and a round 6ml bottle, and its 100mm (4") long so there's a chance that the section of tube with the big hole in it can be cut off. I will buy one and see how it looks. I'm hoping the inner bits can be made a tight fit and just slide the outer shell off (i.e. push the guts out) to change the battery or top up the juice bottle.

5V 1A DIY Aluminizing USB Power Bank Case 18650 Battery Charger for Cell Phone | eBay